Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld Talk Blue Caprice Score

It's a wonder Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld find time to sleep. This year alone, both have released solo records (his: New History Warfare: Vol 3: To See More Light; hers: Hero Brother) while maintaining their commitments to a couple of indie rock's most tireless workhorses: Stetson is a touring member of Bon Iver, and he and Neufeld both play with Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre. Between their busy schedules, though, they eked out the time to write their first film score together for Blue Caprice(which opens today in select cities), the chilling, impressionistic character study of the two men who would become the D.C. snipers. Driven by Stetson's rippling bass saxophone and Neufeld's frenetic violin, the score is as hauting and unexpected as the film itself.

Phoning in from Montreal (and, surely, relieved to be grilled about something other than the feverishly anticipated new Arcade Fire record), they talked about their favorite scores, discussed the difficulties of soundtracking killer's mindset, and shared the track they wrote for the film's most intense moment.

Pitchfork: How did you get involved with this film?

CS: I was contacted by [director] Alexandre Moors. He and the scriptwriter [Ronnie Porto] said they wrote the film with my second album [New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges] on in the background, so they had been thinking about my music from the inception. They asked if I wanted to be a part of it, and then we got Sarah involved because I thought we would make for a much more comprehensive score-writing machine.

SN: Yeah, between the two of us, we made a creepy army. [laughs]

Pitchfork: When most people hear “DC sniper movie”, they’re probably going to picture something violent, epic and melodramatic—all car chases and murder scenes. But this film really subverts that expectation. How did that inspire your score?

CS: After my initial meeting with Alex, it just seemed like he was coming at the story in the right direction. He didn't want to do what you were saying, just an overly dramatic spectacle of violence. The way things unfold in the film, there’s a very minimalist pace. So that totally informed how we approached writing for it.

SN: We didn’t want to go the route of traditional scoring or arranging using large ensembles, so we decided to write something just using the instruments that we play between the two of us. It’s kind of like what we do in our solo projects, more individual-style arrangements. So there are a bunch of different instruments in the score, like horns and strings and keyboards, but we’re the only people playing them.

CS: The song “Killing Spree” is the only really…

SN: Grandiose.

CS: Yeah, grandiose, anthemic thing we did. The rest is more abstract.

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Pitchfork: Most of the film takes place before the murders, so the film puts the viewer in an unusual position, because we’re spending all this time with characters who we know are going to do something terrible. The lines between good and evil feel very ambiguous. How did you arrive at the appropriate tone?

CS: We didn’t want to cram down your throat that something terrible is about to happen-- this isn’t just an ugly Skeletor cartoon of evil. There’s a human story behind it, so I think even though you know they’re going to do some terrible things and end up feeling remorseful, we were trying to find the reality and the human motivations in their story. Most of it is about Lee [a troubled teen played by Tequan Richmond] latching onto this older man and having a parent and a father figure for the first time in his life-- even though he’s an obviously psychopathic, manipulative, terrible parent. But there’s still a very strong emotional core to his motivations throughout the film.

Pitchfork: Were there any particular scores that inspired you?

CS: My all-time favorite that I always look to for inspiration is Hans Zimmer's score for The Thin Red Line, which I think is perfection. And [Jonny Greenwood’s] scores for There Will Be Blood and The Master are both incredible.

SN: When I’m putting together tracks, I always think about the score to Babel by Gustavo Santaolalla. Beautiful, and very chilling.

Pitchfork: When Alexandre first came to you and said, "I'm making a film about the DC Sniper," was that a tough sell?

SN: I don’t think Colin was bothered by it. But I kind of had a moment there [before reading the script] where I didn't know if I even wanted to watch a film about that!

CS: I was just surprised that nobody had done it yet. These days you feel like a movie is made about a thing before the thing is even done happening. Especially in politics. Somebody's already written the script and they're ready to roll and put it on Showtime.

Pitchfork: You both have busy schedules. Was it hard to fit this in?

SN: We were literally doing it in between tours and then Colin was editing stuff on tour. It was ridiculous. Like, "Hey! What do you want to do when we're both off tour? I know. Let's cram ourselves into a studio [laughs]."

CS: Yeah, we were working around both Bon Iver and Arcade Fire’s tour, and also my solo tour, so it was a really hectic time. But at the same time it never felt hurried or like the quality was compromised.

SN: There was a lot of freedom.

CS: Miraculously, there were very few touchups and alterations needed from us, and I think that's always because me and Alex had gone through and really established the direction and the mood and what he wanted out of it. We could avoid a lot of that back and forth later on because we didn't really have time for it.

Pitchfork: Would you two do another film together?

CS: Yeah, definitely. I’ve always wanted to collaborate on a score like this, and Sarah and I work really well together.

SN: We have a lot in common in our writing styles.

CS: Yeah, but we also have a nice contrast. [laughs] We cover each other's weak spots.